It was a tough weekend for Bristol Baseball Club with the Badgers, Bats and Brunels all losing their double headers on Sunday.
The Badgers were involved in two close BBF AAA games in Richmond against the Knights. The first game was a tense pitchers’ duel with only three runs separating the teams at the end of the fifth inning. Badgers’ pitcher Matt Papini struck out four Richmond players over his six innings pitched while the Bristol team’s defense was error free behind him. Richmond pitcher Luis Ramey gave up just three hits and one run as the Knights pulled away in the sixth inning scoring three runs to complete a 6-1 victory.
The second game followed a similar pattern, with the Badgers held to just two runs which included a home run by infielder Deivydas Trinkunas. Doug Scriver struck out four Knights and apart from a seven run fourth inning, kept runs off the board. Papini, Trinkunas, Carlson Charles and Seyi Awofadeju all had multi-hit games for the Badgers but the Bristol team was unable to drive in baserunners to score.
With two double headers remaining, the Badgers will be relying on results from the other teams if they are to make the playoffs.
“Despite the results, they were two good games of baseball,” said Badgers player/manager Rhodri Theaker. “Our fielding and pitching were good and we certainly had the chances to score but were unable to drive runners home.”
At Somerdale, the Brunels completed their SWWBL/BBF A season with two disappointing losses to the Bournemouth Bears. Bristol’s development team went down 25-3 and 20-4 with a shortage of pitching being the deciding factor.
In the first game, the Brunels gave up 16 walks and committed six errors in the field on a day the team will want to forget. Although, the Brunels defense tightened up in the second game, a lack of pitching depth hurt the Bristol team as the Bears completed a sweep.
“It was a disappointing end to the season and its fair to say it was just one of those days,” said player/manager Richard Evans. “Despite that, every player has improved over the course of the season and the camaraderie has been excellent. We are looking forward to next season already.”
Also at Somerdale, the Bats were in action against Richmond Dragons, with fielding errors the order of the day for the Bristol defence. In the first game, catcher Chris D’Angelo got three hits while Josh Boulton struck out five Dragons in his complete game on the mound. Sean Wilkins and Tom Rowe drove in three runs between them to keep the Bats close but the Dragons were the eventual winners taking the 7-4 victory.
The Dragons ran out 15-6 winners in the second game with injuries to the Bats pitchers hampering efforts to even up the double header. D’Angelo stepped up to the mound to pitch and did well without any notice, keeping Richmond’s offense under control. Billy Garrett had a good all round game in the field and with the bat with some big hits as the Bats fought hard to get back in the game. The two defeats just about ended the Bats playoff hopes with just two weekends remaining against Oxford Kings at home and Bracknell Inferno away.
“It was a difficult day for us with injuries to our pitchers and too many errors in the first game,” said Neptali Ortega-Gutierrez. “It is our first season in AA and we have acquitted ourselves well at this level.”
Next up:
As well as the Bats being at Somerdale next Sunday, the Buccaneers complete their season with a trip to Cardiff to take on SWWBL Severn Division champions, Merlins I. The Badgers have a week off.